Nominations open for Brisbane Pride Festival memorial fund grants

GRANT nominations for one of Brisbane Pride Festival’s most significant community contributions, the Kal Collins Memorial Fund, have officially opened as time draws near for the festival’s premier annual event.

After it was established in 2012 to commemorate the memory of a well-respected community member Kal Collins, who died in 2011, the fund’s sole purpose has been to raise money and support organisations and groups in the Brisbane community that work to improve LGBTI mental health and raise awareness of suicide prevention.

Brisbane Pride president Peter Black said that the memorial fund was an important initiative of the association to tackle a serious issue within the community.

“One of the objects of the Brisbane Pride Festival is to promote mental health and wellness among the LGBTIQ community in Queensland, and the Kal Collins Memorial Fund is one of the main ways we are able to give back to the community,” he said.

“We hope that through the Kal Collins Memorial Fund the Brisbane Pride Festival will be able to support a wide range of community groups and programs and make a positive contribution to our community.”

Last year the fund, which is the beneficiary of proceeds from Brisbane Pride’s month-long series of events every September, raised $5000 for the Queensland AIDS Council.

The festival committee was happy to announce that $13,000 had been allocated towards the fund this year, and have put out the call for the community to nominate groups, associations and committees that they believe embody and support the main goal of the fund.

The biggest event on Brisbane Pride’s schedule is the annual Fair Day, which is preceded by a huge march along Brisbane streets. After receiving a lot of positive feedback to moving the day to New Farm Park in 2013, festival organisers have announced they were returning there again this year.

This year’s festival theme, “Define Me: More Than A Label”, will ask members of the LGBTI community to examine the issues of labels and look at themselves as something more.

Fair Day will be held on Saturday, September 20 and information on the rally will be announced soon.